Forbes Under 12s took on Dubbo at Grinsted Oval on Sunday and came away with a strong victory to maintain their momentum.
Forbes won the toss and batted on a pitch that was doing a bit, however a combination of Dubbo's bowlers being a little astray and some strong hitting from Forbes upper order saw the home side get away to a good start.
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Forbes were 1-15 in the 5th over with the loss of Gus Field (7) and 2-21 when Mac Glasson (4) went to an absolute screamer at mid-off from H Furney.
However opener Thompson Hurford (22) and Mason Hodges (33) in his finest innings yet, steadied the innings and maintained good run rate.
The pitch was playing up and little and the boys seemed a little worried as time went on, with batsmen giving chances as balls popped.
Hodges especially benefited from the dropped catches, but when the loose ball was there he really put the willow to leather.
However Dubbo couldn't capitalise any more.
Hurford was dismissed with the score at 54, dragging a ball on when he seemed to have the bowlers at his mercy, before Cayden Metzeling (16) joined Hodges and Metzeling played some intelligent cricket and really pushed the running between the wickets well, before both batsmen were dismissed in quick succession, Hodges at 107 and Metzeling at 111 in the 23rd over.
Although this seemed to be a very defendable score for Forbes, there was still some 10 overs for them to really put the sword to the Dubbo bowling.
However the introduction of L Marchant (2 overs 2 for 1) put a dent in Forbes lower order and a couple of run outs, also involving Marchant saw Forbes tail not bat out their innings, despite some resistance from Max Hazell (6) and Matthew Wallace 3 not out and a couple of small partnerships.
Dubbo's extras 33, top scored with Hodges and Forbes may need to be thankful for dropped catches and some wayward bowling to help boost their total to 125 all out in the 28th of their 32 over innings.
Whilst they may have benefited from some luck with the bat, Forbes' bowlers needed no such assistance.
On song from the start, the opening four bowlers are menacing, accurate and unrelenting to any batting line up at this age group.
Dubbo were 2 for 1, 3 for 2, 4 for 11, 5 for 17 and 8 for 21 as Forbes attack tore into them, not requiring the assistance of the pitch as they were accurate and bowling a good length to amazingly knock over Dubbo's stumps on seven occasions in their innings.
T Hurford 2 for 4 off 3 was lightning, Hazell 1 for 3 off 4 was swinging the ball and unlucky not to take more, Mac Glasson in 2 very fine spells took 4 for 11 off 4.1 overs and Metzeling 0-4 off 5 was also unlucky as Dubbo failed to handle his flight and turn.
They were backed up by some outstanding ground fielding as well as the upcoming young trio of Wallace 1 for 2 off 2, Ned Glasson 1 for 4 off 2 and Lennox Hurford 1 for 8 off 1.
Field, Stocks and Hodges also bowled tightly to help their teammates.
Dubbo's finest partnership of 23, was their last, with Knight and W Marchant both making 9 to give some respect to both the total and the number of overs faced, before Dubbo was all out for 50 in the 26th over.
Forbes have won 3 on the trot now as they attempt to defend their dual premierships.
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But they must know they have some of their toughest opponents to come yet and won't get the charity of as many dropped catches, and as a batting group need to make the most of their opportunities to score big and run well between the wickets.